A New Addition to the Family – Russia

Every once in a while, I get a package from my agent. And honestly, it’s always a little like Christmas.

I spent so long trying to get an agent, you see. Now, not only do I have an agent, but he’s a really good agent. And the people he works with at the agency are really good too. We get along really well, and they help me sell my book all over the world.

So when they send me something, it’s cool by default. They could mail me a gum wrapper and I’d be happy. Why? Because getting a gum wrapper from your awesome agent is roughly a billion times cooler than getting form-letter rejection from yet another agent rejecting your book.

It doesn’t hurt that I’m new enough to this whole professional writer thing that everything is still fresh and new. Foreign contracts are still interesting to me. I get an envelope in the mail and think, “Yay! I get to read an 8 page contract detailing the sale of the Brazilian rights of my book!” Even the cryptically opaque royalty statements are fun.

But my favorite things to get in the mail are new foreign editions of the book.

But just a couple days ago I had a new experience. A book showed up and I couldn’t figure out what country it was from.

(Click to Embiggen.)

Usually if I don’t know which country a book is from, it’s not that hard for me to figure out. If worse comes to worst, I just google the publisher’s name. For example, if I search on “Argo” and “Rothfuss” I find out that “Jméno Větru” is the Czech version of my book.

But this book had nothing on it that I could use. The foreign character set completely flummoxed me. Normally when I get a book, I can at least read my name on the cover. Not so with this one.

I was pretty sure it was Russian. I needed to be *really* sure. If I was wrong I’d look like a real idiot. It would be like introducing your own child using the wrong name.

Eventually I took an educated guess and decided that Патрик Ротфусс was a transliterated version of “Patrick Rothfuss.” But even then, it took me a long time to figure out how to type “Патрик Ротфусс” into google.

So, after a little bit of research, let me introduce the Russian Version of the Name of the Wind: Имя ветра.

It’s a pretty book. Good paper and a nice binding. It doesn’t have a book-jacket either, the art is printed directly on the cover of the book. I kinda like that.

Also, join me in enjoying the cover art. It isn’t to-the-letter accurate, but it’s not that bad, either.

I’ve become philosophical about cover art over the years. I know that its main job is to catch the reader’s eye. If the picture isn’t entirely true to the story Kvothe tells, if it over-dramatizes a bit… I can live with that. I comfort myself with the knowledge that if the cover doesn’t fit Kvothe’s story perfectly, it’s probably pretty close to the version Old Cob would tell….

70 Comments

i just realized that it was denis scheck’s tv show that made me discover your book! i remember that i accidentally zapped into the show late in the evening, when it was almost over, and i only saw the very last part – but that was enough to convince me. unfortunately, i missed the name of the author, and i ended up searching for the book online that very night – found it, ordered it, and loved it (and since then try to convince every friend to read it. =)
– btw: the interview with denis isn’t online anymore, the link in your blog entry about it is dead – do you have another source for the interview? i’d really love to read it!

I discovered the book the same way. And I will always be thankful to Dennis Scheck that he recommended it. As long as I know the interview that Pat talked about in his blog was never broadcasted. I really don’t know why. I would have loved to see it.

On a side note – just received one of those Subterranean Press editions of The Adventures of Princess and Mr Whiffle – bravo, Pat. Simply bravo. You have provided a new weapon in my vast arsenal against young children.

I also enjoyed The Adventures of the Princess and Mr. Whiffle. I reviewed it on goodreads.com, giving it 5 out of 5 stars. I’ve tried to get as many people as I can to read it. (I can tell who is as twisted as I am by their response to the book.) My 17-year-old niece was actually nervous turning the pages, but she liked it anyway.

I’ve noticed that few people mention Nate Taylor’s seemingly innocent art. His work is an excellent complement to the story Pat wrote. I’ve found something new on every rereading so far. The illustrations are just as subtly diabolical as Pat’s story.

If you haven’t read it yet, find someone with a copy. It is well worth it.

To quote my favourite living author, witness the awesome of this cover, see that even if the artwork is a little bit more eye candy than is usual, it is more than justified by the quality of word smithing within.

I dont think we can really make fair comment on how Russian publishers choose to market the book, they know their market and have put some wicked artwork on that cover. So much fantasy on the shelves out there you have to make your mark somehow…and this one would definitely have caught my eye.

” My life has reached it’s pinnacle, Pat replied to a comment of mine and even went so far as to say something nice about it !! Validation…Glory….Oodles of smugness ! ”

I thought perhaps your facebook quandary could be worked into an embarrasing situation for Ambrose ? It’s not quite up to Kvothe’s exacting standards of a verbal riposte, but it could be just up Manets street….

I am usually drawn by shiny covers like that! It is pretty cool artwork but I’m not a fan of having something on the cover that isn’t portraying something that actually happens. That’s just my own personal view though! Regardless, one more for the languages tally =D, congrats dude \o/

I love the sound of the Russian name. :) Imya Vyetra… That’s poetry. Or something.
Also, they advertise that this is the first Russian edition right at the bottom. Looks like people have been pestering the publishing houses about your book. :)

Umya Betra is Umya is Name, veter is wind so vetra is wind in genitive case, ie name of the wind.

The Bper’vie na russkom yazike is “first in the russian language”

Not quite sure about the mastera mecha i magii. I’m assuming the mastera is russian doing a cognate of master, though why it’s in genitive case (add an a to the end of masculine nouns) eludes me. Mecha or myech is how it would be pronounced isn’t a word I’m familiar with and I can’t find a non-translit russian to english translation tool before having coffee. the backwards N looking thing is pronounced ee (translit “i”) which is “and” in russian. So Magee is probably genitive for Magiya which goes to magii. I’m assuming Magiya is magic in russian.

I’d love to get a copy of this in russian. Some of the ways that phrases are translated from English to Russian are suprising to say the least. One of my favorites is “On sbivayet grushi xuyem” which has the english equivalent of “slacking off” but literally translates to “He’s whacking pears with his {vulgar word for a male portion of the anatomy}”

Huh. Well, in Bulgarian (birthplace of the Cyrillic alphabet), “mecha” or some form thereof means “bear”, as in the animal. “Master of bears and magic”??? “The ursine wizard”?

Also, FYI, when the Bulgarian version shows up (when will that be, by the way? seriously – I know Bulgaria is kind of the archetypical obscure and corrupt Eastern European country, but there ARE quite a few fantasy fans there) Patrick Rothfuss will transliterate the same way. And the title will be not far off. . .”Ime vuhtre” or something similar in Cyrillic.

The “Master of sword and magic” is the Russian attempt to translate the “Kingkiller chronicles”. Often in such translations they do their best to convey the ultimate meaning of a word, although they often lose other layered meanings. Also, in Russian “Kingkiller” wouldn’t work very well.

Have you ever done a blog on what your ideal cover would be, were you to design one?

I lack graphic design talent, but many of your readers here have talent to spare. They’d probably take a few good cracks at working some art up for you just to win minion points. Then you’d have something nifty to hang on your wall, if nothing else.

Of course, you could always use that awesome draccus painting as your mental picture of an ideal cover, and that would pretty much answer the question.

I’m of two minds about printing the artwork directly on the book instead of the jacket. At first it seems like a good idea because publishers know there are people like me out there who hate the dust jackets and throw them away immediately after buying the book. I just can’t stand the things. On the other hand, it can be a bad move if the artwork is ugly. I have avoided buying books because the cover art was too damn ugly and I didn’t want to be seen reading it in public… That isn’t a problem when I can just strip the jacket off and toss it.

My Princess and Mr Whiffle book is the only hardcover I currently own with an intact jacket.

Pat, you’re exceedingly lucky in your fan base. Do you see how many people could’ve translated this for you if you had dared to call your child by the wrong name? Not many people can say “Yeah, I posted a picture of my book online and my friends translated it from Russian for me.”

I think the cover art being printed right on the book is great. The only reason I don’t like dust jackets is because I struggle with them while I’m reading, so I have to take them off. Often, this ends in it sitting on my desk for extended periods of time AFTER I finish the book. When I finally remember to take the book out of my backpack/purse/bedroom/wherever it was when I finished it and reunite it with its dust jacket, there is a small celebration.

wow…the cover looks a lot better than the book! If I didn’t know anything about NOTW and saw this cover, I’d buy!

I got to say though, while I really like this cover and this dragon version of the draccus, I think Mr. MacDarby’s version of “Luring the Draccus” honors your book and gives it that realistic look to NOTW, so that readers feel that the draccus really does exist. {=^-^=}

Couldnt resist posting, since I am Russian:) You guys got almost everything right. Mastera Mecha i Magii means Masters of sword and magic. It is a publishing name for a series of books, most of them translated from English. You can see the other books they printed in it here http://www.fantlab.ru/series173
Among the authors are Robin Hobb and Tad Williams.

I live next to Russia, in Estonia and I have studied russian for quite a while and even I was a bit confused when I saw the cover. But I am sure as others ( at least one person) has posted some smart stuff about the cover and the exact meaning of it, the right people, to whom the book really is can read it :D. And sry, if I have mistakes in my writing, even though I am really trying to write as grammatically correctly as I can.

ISBN: 978-5-699-39937-6 You could try that ISBN in google or you could look at the list of the book sellers on http://www.fantlab.ru/edition42271 . Also google translate might help if you can’t read Russian.

Oh absolutely YES pretty pretty please. One of my most cherished possessions is a big leatherbound copy of The Lord of the Rings, on archival quality paper, with the huge folded maps and little built-in bookmark ribbons like a bible. Gimme gimme GIMME the complete Kingkiller Chronicle with the same treatment. (Once the whole series is done.) I’ll pay a hundred dollars for it.

Название Ветер sort-of means Name of the Wind, but Название is the past passive something-or-another of the verb Назвать, which is “to be called/named”

Имя is a noun, just means Name.

And Ветер/ветра are the same word, just in different cases, because it requires genitive after Имя (name OF wind), and ветер after Название is probably nominative (though could be accusative) for some reason that I honestly don’t understand, and really don’t feel like trying to look up.

name of the wind on http://translate.google.com/ comes up with имя ветра and if you type in name wind without the “of the” you’d get Название ветер.

Also Google translate has a speaker icon next to the Russian translation and actually says the words that you write. Its using some robotic sounding voice with an american accent and not exactly right pronunciation.

Um so reading this gave me this huge urge. I shouldn’t admit this, but I didn’t pay for my copy of your book. But I bought a copy for someone else and then reading this, I finally decided to buy a book for myself. Only the one I wanted was the Italian copy. It took me a long googling session but I finally ordered it from Italy with the help of Google translator – seeing as how I don’t know Italian. But honestly, the Italians…I couldn’t even get it off of google.it. I look forward to my postcard from the postal service saying it has arrived, couldn’t fit in the slot and is waiting for me at the depot.

The comment on a leather bound edition got me thinking. One of my prize possessions is a copy of LOTR in a single volume published in the UK. NOT the big red one, but a slim black cloth-bound edition, all three books yet about an inch thick. The paper so thin and fine, I have seen nothing else like it. It lives in it’s case and on the rare occasions I take it out I want to wear cotton gloves. (For reading I have a standard 3-volume hardcover, as well as an old ACE paperback set.) (I see a copy that looks like it, but a 1982 printing that has to be later than my 1979 purchase, listed with a buy now price of $390.)

What I am thinking is that when all three volumes of The Kingkiller Chronicles have been out a while, it would be a fine thing if it were published as such a single volume . Even on such paper it would not be a small book, but I imagine there would be some thousands of fans who would find it worth the price.

Woah! A while back I was totally thinking the same thing! Though I had no idea they had that for LOTR, I was thinking of the Narnia one, I think it’s a great idea. I would totally buy one just so I could have the whole series around with me at once (and how impressive would an (approx.) 2000-page book be? answer: quite). So if you do ever decide to make any, count me in.

Science Fiction appears to be pretty popular in the Russia. 15 years ago, I took a Russian politics class and talked about this. Apparently back during commie days there was a whole genre of communist science fiction. A bunch of commons with the workers party in space fighting evil capitalist aliens.

There appears to be quite a few Russian translated fantasy books on store shelves too.
You may want to check the translation of the book. They may make your hero Comrade Qvothe.

Pat,
This post was a wonderful synchronicity for me. Thank you! I’ve got my first novel about ready to go, and my thoughts have been “agents vs. publishers” for a few weeks now. I dread the idea of slush piles!

Stephen R. Donaldson once told me that Lord Foul’s Bane was rejected 47 times. We’ve all heard other stories along the same vein. Therefore, I gather my fortitude and get ready to stand strong in the face of rejection. The good news is I like my story, and am willing to persevere!

Cool looking book. I just wrote a Russian friend of mine and recommend that she read your book but I wasn’t sure if the Russian edition had come out yet. I am pleased to hear that she will be able to get a copy. I majored in Russian while at university and lived there for about a year and a half. Your book has been published as part of the “Sword and Magic” series of fantasy books which I remember seeing a lot of times during my trips to the book stores in Russia. The great thing about Russia is how cheap the prices are for books. Whereas, here a hardcover such as yours above might cost 17-25 dollars. I would venture a guess that the Russian edition probably sells for around 8-10 dollars US. I noticed that the quality tended to be good as well, just as you mentioned in your blog. I will have to try and get a copy of the Russian version to add to my collection of Russian Language Materials!

Hi! I’m Karen,I’m 22, and believe it or not, I’m studying chemical engeneering…and I’m from the end of the world (I’m from Chile)..here is my question: have you ever received any offer to make a movie of the book?? what would you say it would be the best actor for the role of Kvothe?? (I would like to put a face to kvothe..xD)
Thanks! Great book, I enjoyed a lot! the bad part it’s that I’m gonna have to wait a lot for the second part…=(
Bye! and congratulationes for your book, it’s awesome!

Jack here from NZ (bottom of the world). Just read your update on when the second book is out mate, and am saddened to hear of your stress. All I can say is that you are a rare person who has written the first of what i have no doubt will be an amazing series (no pressure…lol), and you should stop listening to the negative emails. The world is full of people who want to whine, and then there are those like you who write such a profound book that it rocks the sci fi world. Enjoy the moments, remember the only person that can give you stress is you and knock the next book outa the park. Now go do the dishes (great way to relax), pay your taxes (as little as possible), and revel in the fact you have already made a major POSITIVE difference in a large number of peoples lives.

I am ashamed to admit that I had indulged in the comfort of reading in my native language out of pure laziness and I read the “Name of the wind” in Russian at first.

It’s a good thing that “The Wise man’s fear” hasn’t been translated yet and I had no choice but to read it in English, I hate to think of all those delightful linguistic pearls I would’ve missed then. Some are just impossible to translate adequately.

I read the book in two days in spite of it being in English, just couldn’t put it down! Now, estimating how long I have to wait for the book 3 makes me ill…

Russian translation was decent enough, except why the translator decided to translate “miles” into “kilometers” is beyond me. It’s not a big thing but it did feel weird, reading of people in that lovely, magically medieval world covering “kilometers”.
I mean even in Russia the word “kilometer” is relatively modern, just 150 years ago they would’ve used a different term.

In spite of the evil translator, the general opinion of our Russian fans is that your work is a “breath of fresh air in fantasy genre”. I couldn’t agree more!

Thank you so much for your work, dear Patrick! (please write more soon)

First I want to thank Patrick for 2 of the gratest books of 21st century!!! I’AM A HUGE FAN!!!
On august 2011
Just by mistake i stumbled upon “The Wise Man’s Fear”-“Страх Мудреца” read the summary and bought the first book ” The Name of the Wind”-“Имя Ветра” , SIX hours later i went to buy the second book of “Kingkiller Chronicles”
So basically it took me 16 hours to read both books, they are in top 10 of all books i ever read.
I also agree with “Maryana” no matter how good the translator is, he or she is not an author, and its not always possible to translate all the linguistic pearls, idiomatic jokes, all original semantics plays a great deal.
I read both books in original , but i also scanned through the russian, french and italian versions , they are good but you cannot compare them to the original.
By the way ‘The name of the Wind” is the fourth book in the series it was publishedin Russia “Masters of Sword and Magic” ” Мастера Меча и Магии”
it also includes Furies of Calderon by Jim Butcher (also one of my favourite books).
Thank you for your work HOPE TO READ MORE SOON, PLEAAASSSSSE!!!
GOOD LUCK!!!